1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a cut sheet feed apparatus used in a recording system (or a recording apparatus) having a recording means for performing recording at a recording position.
2. Related Background Art
In a recording apparatus such as a printer, a cut sheet feeder is often used to automatically feed cut sheets to the recording apparatus or discharge them therefrom.
In a conventional cut sheet feeder, one pulse motor (a feeder motor) is mounted to rotate one of a feed and discharge rollers according to the rotational direction of the pulse motor. One-way clutches are arranged in transmission systems of the feed and discharge rollers, and one of the one-way clutches is driven according to the rotational direction of the feeder motor.
With the conventional structure described above, feeding and discharge of cut sheets cannot be simultaneously performed. The next sheet is fed after the previous sheet is completely discharged. The recording operation is therefore interrupted, and a throughput of the recording apparatus is low.
The discharge roller and the sheet feed roller in the recording apparatus are, in general, synchronously rotated.
However, in recent continuous recording, discharge of the previous sheet can be simultaneously performed with feeding of the next cut sheet. When only discharge of the cut sheet is to be performed, only the discharge roller is rotated to increase the throughput of the recording operation.
At any rate, in a recording apparatus such as a printer incorporating a cut sheet feeder, cut sheets are automatically fed and/or discharged. Therefore, a sheet feed roller (i.e., a platen roller) need not be manually rotated.
However, in practice, when a printing position is arbitrarily adjusted, when the power switch is kept off, or when an alarm is generated at the time of paper jam or the like, the sheet must be manually discharged. Demand has thus arisen for manually operating a platen knob (i.e., a knob for pivoting the sheet feed roller) and for simultaneously rotating the discharge roller as well as the sheet feed roller.